1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a structure for absorbing an impact applied from the inside or outside of a vehicle near a seat belt anchor bolt by which a trough ring (unit for hanging a seat belt by causing the seat belt to pass therethrough) is attached to a vehicle body panel.
2. Description of the Background
Conventionally, there has been adopted an impact absorbing structure, for example, as disclosed in Patent Literature 1, near a seat belt anchor bolt for absorbing an impact applied from the inside of a vehicle via a vehicle interior component or an impact applied from the outside of the vehicle via a vehicle body panel.
Specifically, in the impact absorbing structure of Japanese Patent Application Laid-open 2009-220713 (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Literature 1”), in the vicinity of a seat belt anchor bolt (22), impact absorbing ribs (57a, 57b) are arranged on a back face of a vehicle interior component (7). Ends of the impact absorbing ribs (57a, 57b) faces to a head part of the seat belt anchor bolt (22).
In the impact absorbing structure of Patent Literature 1, in the vicinity of the seat belt anchor bolt (22), when an impact is applied from the inside of the vehicle via the vehicle interior component (7) or when an impact is applied from the outside of the vehicle via the vehicle body panel (5), the applied impact is to be absorbed while the head part of the seat belt anchor bolt (22) crushes the impact absorbing ribs (57a, 57b). Accordingly, in a case that clearance between the head part of the seat belt anchor bolt (22) and the impact absorbing ribs (57a, 57b) is not sufficient, there is a problem that sufficient impact absorbing effect cannot be obtained because the impact absorbing ribs is crushed in a relatively early stage after the impact occurs.
In the above description, reference signs in Patent Literature 1 are shown in parentheses.
Being different from the impact absorbing structure in Patent Literature 1, for example, an impact absorbing structure 40 illustrated in FIG. 3A may be considered as a structure for absorbing an impact near a seat belt anchor bolt.
The impact absorbing structure 40 in FIG. 3A is located between a vehicle body panel W1 and a vehicle interior component W2. In the vicinity of a seat belt anchor bolt B1, when an impact is applied from the inside of a vehicle via the vehicle interior component W2 or when an impact is applied from the outside of the vehicle via the vehicle body panel W1, the impact absorbing structure 40 absorbs the impact by causing an impact absorbing box 5 to be crushed.
However, according to the impact absorbing structure 40 in FIG. 3A, when an impact is applied to the impact absorbing box 5 via the vehicle interior component W2, for example, from a lower oblique direction of the impact absorbing box 5 (in the direction of arrow R in FIG. 3B), the impact absorbing box 5 is tilted in a direction to escape from the seat belt anchor bolt B1 as illustrated in FIG. 3B, that is, an escaping-slipping phenomenon due to tilting of the impact absorbing box 5 occurs.
Thus, crushing of the impact absorbing box 5 is unstable such that the impact absorbing box 5 is not crushed as designed, so that impact absorption effects are fluctuating and unstable.